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At least 1,639 records · Page 91
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1990

Three-dimensional flux-split Euler schemes involving unstructured dynamic meshes

Improved algorithms for the solution of the 3-D time dependent Euler equations are presented for aerodynamic analysis involving unstructured dynamic meshes. The improvements were developed recently to the spatial and temporal discretizations used by unstructured grid flow solvers. The spatial discretization involves a flux split approach which is naturally dissipative and captures shock waves sharply with at most one grid point within the shock structure. The temporal discretization involves either an explicit time integration scheme using a multistage Runge-Kutta procedure or an implicit time integration scheme using a Gauss-Seidel relaxation procedure which is computationally efficient for either steady or unsteady flow problems. With the implicit Gauss-Seidel procedure, very large time steps may be used for rapid convergence to steady state, and the step size for unsteady cases may be selected for temporal accuracy rather than for numerical stability. Steady flow results are presented for both the NACA 0012 airfoil and the ONERA M6 wing to demonstrate applications of the new Euler solvers. A description of the Euler solvers is presented along with results and comparisons which assess the capability.

Batina, John T.↗
NASA NTRS1989

The Deinococcus-Thermus phylum and the effect of rRNA composition on phylogenetic tree construction

Through comparative analysis of 16S ribosomal RNA sequences, it can be shown that two seemingly dissimilar types of eubacteria Deinococcus and the ubiquitous hot spring organism Thermus are distantly but specifically related to one another. This confirms an earlier report based upon 16S rRNA oligonucleotide cataloging studies (Hensel et al., 1986). Their two lineages form a distinctive grouping within the eubacteria that deserved the taxonomic status of a phylum. The (partial) sequence of T. aquaticus rRNA appears relatively close to those of other thermophilic eubacteria. e.g. Thermotoga maritima and Thermomicrobium roseum. However, this closeness does not reflect a true evolutionary closeness; rather it is due to a "thermophilic convergence", the result of unusually high G+C composition in the rRNAs of thermophilic bacteria. Unless such compositional biases are taken into account, the branching order and root of phylogenetic trees can be incorrectly inferred.

Non-NASA Center↗
DOE OSTI2024

Towards dynamical low-rank approximation for neutrino kinetic equations. Part I: Analysis of an idealized relaxation model

Dynamical low-rank approximation (DLRA) is an emerging tool for reducing computational costs and provides memory savings when solving high-dimensional problems. Here, in this work, we propose and analyze a semi-implicit dynamical low-rank discontinuous Galerkin (DLR-DG) method for the space homogeneous kinetic equation with a relaxation operator, modeling the emission and absorption of particles by a background medium. Both DLRA and the discontinuous Galerkin (DG) scheme can be formulated as Galerkin equations. To ensure their consistency, a weighted DLRA is introduced so that the resulting DLR-DG solution is a solution to the fully discrete DG scheme in a subspace of the standard DG solution space. Similar to the standard DG method, we show that the proposed DLR-DG method is well-posed. We also identify conditions such that the DLR-DG solution converges to the equilibrium. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the theoretical findings.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Decentralized Carrier Phase Shifting for Optimal Harmonic Minimization in Asymmetric Parallel-Connected Inverters

This paper presents a carrier phase shifting technique for minimizing the aggregate harmonics in networks of asymmetric parallel-connected inverters for distributed power generation system applications. The proposed technique is: 1) implemented in a decentralized manner, relying only on local voltage and current measurements, and 2) optimal in the sense that it minimizes a cost function representing the carrier-frequency current harmonics. The analysis indicates that the proposed optimal carrier phase shifting technique can enable order-of-magnitude reductions in harmonic power, and also universal improvements compared to symmetric carrier interleaving for asymmetric inverter networks. Moreover, compared to existing methods that require either centralized communication or information exchange between inverters to coordinate carriers, the proposed technique is completely decentralized, which provides important practical benefits for implementation, including improved robustness and reduced cost. The technique is experimentally validated on a network of three single-phase 2-kW inverters and demonstrates a 36.5% reduction in the weighted total harmonic distortion factor of the aggregate inverter current, and the ability to converge to the optimal carrier phase spacing dynamically in less than one line frequency cycle (16.7 ms) in steady state and transient operating conditions.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Development of a high-fidelity multi-physics coupling between MCNP6.2 and CTF4.0 for VVER applications

Ensuring system safety in the design, licensing, and operation phases is a priority in the nuclear industry. Performing extensive, full-scale reactor safety experiments is often prohibitive due to the large associated costs. Computational simulations offer an alternative safety analysis method, typically with significant cost reductions. Recent high-level developments in technology and increased availability of computational resources have allowed the development of high-fidelity, high-resolution multi-physics coupled codes. Such developments may be used to generate reference models for deterministic core calculations. Under this framework, the high-fidelity continuous energy Monte Carlo-based neutron transport code MCNP6.2 was coupled externally with the state-of-the-art thermal-hydraulics subchannel code, CTF4.0 for VVER (Water-Water Energetic Reactor) applications. A VVER-1000 fuel assembly model was used to demonstrate the capability of the coupled code. The converged coupled solution is compared to initial results, consisting of the first MCNP evaluation and first CTF evaluation after initialization. The VVER-1000 type assembly results are compared to other evaluations of the same assembly model. The findings indicate good agreement with expectations and reference cases, where available. The initial results of the coupled MCNP6.2/CTF4.0 calculations at the assembly level for steady-state calculations are presented in this study, which may support future work toward high-fidelity coupled full-core modeling capabilities. The multi-physics model may be further improved, enhanced, and expanded for both cycle depletion and transient applications. Such a multi-physics system will also be applicable to the VVER-1200 and other triangular lattice designs and support their deployment and operation safely and economically. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Methodology to Generate the Decay Gamma Source for a Second Target Station Target Wedge

This report details the specifics of applying the Position-Averaged Method methodology for the calculation of the rotating lasagna-style target wedge activation and the resulting decay gamma source terms. The methodology uses MCNP® Code Version 6.2.0 with the RNUCS patch coupled with CINDER2008 from the AARE V1.0 package. The process begins with model preparations that include ensuring impurities are included in the materials in the regions of interest along with segmentation of the geometry in order to capture the decay gamma source gradients. This report also details the physics models and other MCNP®, CINDER2008, and ADVANTG 3.2.0 related options used to calculate the decay gamma source terms. ADVANTG 3.2.0 is used to generate a weight window set to aid in convergence of the neutron fluxes in the initial MCNP® protons-on-target particle transport calculation to calculate the neutron fluxes and spallation products in the regions of interest. The neutron fluxes and spallation products are then used in the CINDER2008 transmutation calculation, and the decay gamma sources are generated by the AARE_GAMMA_SOURCE_SCRIPT as a part of the AARE V1.0 package. These decay gamma sources include the energy distributions as well as the necessary distributions to sample the location of the source using the cell rejection method. The gamma sources that are produced using the methodology may be used for a wide variety of analysis involving the target wedge. This report includes the material specifications, physics options, proton source term description, geometrical configuration, and post-processing details.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Enhancing Biopreparedness through a Model System to Understand the Molecular Mechanisms that Lead to Pathogenesis and Disease Transmission: NW-BRaVE

The science of biopreparedness to counter biological threats hinges on understanding the fundamental principles and molecular mechanisms that lead to pathogenesis and disease transmission. Our vision to address this challenge is to create a powerful and user-friendly platform to elucidate the fundamental principles of how molecular interactions drive pathogen-host relationships and host shifts. We will enable groundbreaking discoveries by integrating a wide range of structural, genomics, proteomics, and other advanced omics measurements, along with evolutionary and artificial intelligence predictions. To make sure the system is applicable to real-world problems, we will develop it in the context of a tractable model system, the small, abundant, and accessible photosynthetic cyanobacteria and their constantly co-adapting viral pathogens, cyanophages. This model will maintain the system’s applicability to real-world problems and techniques, but the overall focus will be on elucidating general principles of detecting, assessing, and surveilling molecular interaction, adaptation, and coevolution that are system agnostic and therefore extensible to other viral-host interactions. Our overall objectives are to (1) identify the molecular complexes that comprise the cyanobacteria redox macromolecular subsystem and how they dynamically change with bacteriophage infection in situ, using cryo-electron tomography; (2) profile regulatory changes during infection using proteomics, multiomics, and experimental validation, and integrate the data with in situ structures; (3) use genomics and metagenomics to determine environmental and population factors across time scales that impact the interactions between marine cyanobacteria and their cyanophage parasites, predicting the evolutionary origins of in situ structural and functional interactions, convergence and coevolution; and (4) develop a data integration and transformation platform that facilitates the integration of in situ, proteomic, and evolutionary measurements of molecular interactions to surveil diverse hosts and parasites in various environmental contexts. These objectives address Focus Area 2 Reveal Molecular Interactions Across Biological Scales for Design of Targeted Interventions. Our powerful and user-friendly platform will enhance connections between the often-siloed fields of structure, molecular phenotype, and evolutionary genomics that are key to biopreparedness, but in need of integration (Figure 1). We will build an integrated navigation tool to facilitate the effective use of globally distributed experimental data for integrated analysis and predictive modeling. The project will develop, implement, and test a platform to assess host-pathogen molecular interactions, adaptation to hosts and host shifts, and coevolution between hosts and pathogens, successfully impacting the research community by revolutionizing abilities to study any host-pathogen interaction, encourage diverse community contributions, and gain fundamental insights into how proteins adapt to new contexts. This ability will be critical for designing early interventions to address future threats. We will build surveillance training capability, aiming for a fair and equitable response to future pandemics and biothreats.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Resolving glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) in response to modern and future ice loss at marine grounding lines in West Antarctica

Accurate glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) modelling in the cryosphere is required for interpreting satellite, geophysical and geological records and for assessing the feedbacks of Earth deformation and sea-level change on marine ice-sheet grounding lines. GIA modelling in areas of active ice loss in West Antarctica is particularly challenging because the ice is underlain by laterally varying mantle viscosities that are up to several orders of magnitude lower than the global average, leading to a faster and more localised response of the solid Earth to ongoing and future ice-sheet retreat and necessitating GIA models that incorporate 3-D viscoelastic Earth structure. Improvements to GIA models allow for computation of the viscoelastic response of the Earth to surface ice loading at sub-kilometre resolution, and ice-sheet models and observational products now provide the inputs to GIA models at comparably unprecedented detail. However, the resolution required to accurately capture GIA in models remains poorly understood, and high-resolution calculations come at heavy computational expense. We adopt a 3-D GIA model with a range of Earth structure models based on recent seismic tomography and geodetic data to perform a comprehensive analysis of the influence of grid resolution on predictions of GIA in the Amundsen Sea Embayment (ASE) in West Antarctica. Through idealised sensitivity testing down to sub-kilometre resolution with spatially isolated ice loading changes, we find that a grid resolution of ~$\frac{1}{3}$ of the radius of the load or higher is required to accurately capture the elastic response of the Earth. However, when we consider more realistic, spatially coherent ice loss scenarios based on modern observational records and future ice-sheet model projections and adopt a viscoelastic Earth, we find that predicted deformation and sea-level change along the grounding line converge to within 5 % with grid resolutions of 7.5 km or higher, and to within 2% for grid resolutions of 3.75 km and higher, even when the input ice model is on a 1 km grid. Furthermore, we show that low mantle viscosities beneath the ASE lead to viscous deformation that contributes to the instrumental record on decadal timescales and equals or dominates over elastic effects by the end of the 21st century. Our findings suggest that for the range of resolutions of 1.9–15 km that we considered, the error due to adopting a coarser grid in this region is negligible compared to the effect of neglecting viscous effects and the uncertainty in the adopted mantle viscosity structure.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1989

A finite element approach for large motion dynamic analysis of multibody structures in space

A three-dimensional finite element formulation for modeling the transient dynamics of constrained multibody space sructures with truss-like configurations is presented. Convected coordinate systems are used to define rigid-body motion of individual elements in the system. These systems are located at one end of each element and are oriented such that one axis passes through the other end of the element. Deformation of each element, relative to its convected coordinate system, is defined by cubic flexural shape functions as used in finite element methods of structural analysis. The formulation is oriented toward joint dominated structures and places the generalized coordinates at the joint. A transformation matrix is derived to integrate joint degree-of-freedom into the equations of motion of the element. Based on the derivation, a general-purpose code LATDYN (Large Angle Transient DYNamics) was developed. Two examples are presented to illustrate the application of the code. For the spin-up of a flexible beam, results are compared with existing solutions available in the literature. For the deployment of one bay of a deployable space truss (the Minimast), results are verified by the geometric knowledge of the system and converged solution of a successively refined model.

Chang, Che-Wei↗
NASA NTRS1990

The effects of cloud radiative forcing on an ocean-covered planet

Cumulus anvil clouds, whose importance has been emphasized by observationalists in recent years, exert a very powerful influence on deep tropical convection by tending to radiatively destabilize the troposphere. In addition, they radiatively warm the column in which they reside. Their strong influence on the simulated climate argues for a much more refined parameterization in the General Circulation Model (GCM). For Seaworld, the atmospheric cloud radiative forcing (ACRF) has a powerful influence on such basic climate parameters as the strength of the Hadley circulation, the existence of a single narrow InterTropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), and the precipitable water content of the atmosphere. It seems likely, however, that in the real world the surface CRF feeds back negatively to suppress moist convection and the associated cloudiness, and so tends to counteract the effects of the ACRF. Many current climate models have fixed sea surface temperatures but variable land-surface temperatures. The tropical circulations of such models may experience a position feedback due to ACRF over the oceans, and a negative or weak feedback due to surface CRF over the land. The overall effects of the CRF on the climate system can only be firmly established through much further analysis, which can benefit greatly from the use of a coupled ocean-atmospheric model.

Randall, David A.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Detailed modeling analysis for soot formation and radiation in microgravity gas jet diffusion flames

Radiation heat transfer in combustion systems has been receiving increasing interest. In the case of hydrocarbon fuels, a significant portion of the radiation comes from soot particles, justifying the need for detailed soot formation model and radiation transfer calculations. For laminar gas jet diffusion flames, results from this project (4/1/91 8/22/95) and another NASA study show that flame shape, soot concentration, and radiation heat fluxes are substantially different under microgravity conditions. Our emphasis is on including detailed soot transport models and a detailed solution for radiation heat transfer, and on coupling them with the flame structure calculations. In this paper, we will discuss the following three specific areas: (1) Comparing two existing soot formation models, and identifying possible improvements; (2) A simple yet reasonably accurate approach to calculating total radiative properties and/or fluxes over the spectral range; and (3) Investigating the convergence of iterations between the flame structure solver and the radiation heat transfer solver.

Ku, Jerry C.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Two-dimensional computer simulation of EMVJ and grating solar cells under AMO illumination

A computer program, SCAP2D (Solar Cell Analysis Program in 2-Dimensions), is used to evaluate the Etched Multiple Vertical Junction (EMVJ) and grating solar cells. The aim is to demonstrate how SCAP2D can be used to evaluate cell designs. The cell designs studied are by no means optimal designs. The SCAP2D program solves the three coupled, nonlinear partial differential equations, Poisson's Equation and the hole and electron continuity equations, simultaneously in two-dimensions using finite differences to discretize the equations and Newton's Method to linearize them. The variables solved for are the electrostatic potential and the hole and electron concentrations. Each linear system of equations is solved directly by Gaussian Elimination. Convergence of the Newton Iteration is assumed when the largest correction to the electrostatic potential or hole or electron quasi-potential is less than some predetermined error. A typical problem involves 2000 nodes with a Jacobi matrix of order 6000 and a bandwidth of 243.

Gray, J. L.↗
NASA NTRS1987

DYCAST: A finite element program for the crash analysis of structures

DYCAST is a nonlinear structural dynamic finite element computer code developed for crash simulation. The element library contains stringers, beams, membrane skin triangles, plate bending triangles and spring elements. Changing stiffnesses in the structure are accounted for by plasticity and very large deflections. Material nonlinearities are accommodated by one of three options: elastic-perfectly plastic, elastic-linear hardening plastic, or elastic-nonlinear hardening plastic of the Ramberg-Osgood type. Geometric nonlinearities are handled in an updated Lagrangian formulation by reforming the structure into its deformed shape after small time increments while accumulating deformations, strains, and forces. The nonlinearities due to combined loadings are maintained, and stiffness variation due to structural failures are computed. Numerical time integrators available are fixed-step central difference, modified Adams, Newmark-beta, and Wilson-theta. The last three have a variable time step capability, which is controlled internally by a solution convergence error measure. Other features include: multiple time-load history tables to subject the structure to time dependent loading; gravity loading; initial pitch, roll, yaw, and translation of the structural model with respect to the global system; a bandwidth optimizer as a pre-processor; and deformed plots and graphics as post-processors.

Pifko, A. B.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Solving large-scale dynamic systems using band Lanczos method in Rockwell NASTRAN on CRAY X-MP

The improved cost effectiveness using better models, more accurate and faster algorithms and large scale computing offers more representative dynamic analyses. The band Lanczos eigen-solution method was implemented in Rockwell's version of 1984 COSMIC-released NASTRAN finite element structural analysis computer program to effectively solve for structural vibration modes including those of large complex systems exceeding 10,000 degrees of freedom. The Lanczos vectors were re-orthogonalized locally using the Lanczos Method and globally using the modified Gram-Schmidt method for sweeping rigid-body modes and previously generated modes and Lanczos vectors. The truncated band matrix was solved for vibration frequencies and mode shapes using Givens rotations. Numerical examples are included to demonstrate the cost effectiveness and accuracy of the method as implemented in ROCKWELL NASTRAN. The CRAY version is based on RPK's COSMIC/NASTRAN. The band Lanczos method was more reliable and accurate and converged faster than the single vector Lanczos Method. The band Lanczos method was comparable to the subspace iteration method which was a block version of the inverse power method. However, the subspace matrix tended to be fully populated in the case of subspace iteration and not as sparse as a band matrix.

Gupta, V. K.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Quasi-biennial modulation of planetary-wave fluxes in the Northern Hemisphere winter

Using 25 years of National Meteorological Center (NMC) data for 1964-88 the relation between tropical and extratropical quasi-biennial oscillations (QBOs) was examined for zonally averaged quantities and planetary-wave Eliassen-Palm fluxes in the Northern Hemisphere winter. The extratropical QBO discussed by Holton and Tan (1980) existed in both temporal halves of the dataset. Autocorrelation analysis demonstrated that it was an important mode of interannual variability in the extratropical winter stratosphere. Correlation with the tropics was strongest when 40-mb equatorial winds were used to define the tropical QBO. Easterly phase at 40 mb implied a weaker than normal polar night jet and warmer than normal polar temperature and vice versa. An opposite relationship was obtained using 10-mb equatorial winds. The association between tropical and extratropical QBOs was observed in about 90 percent of the winters and was statistically significant. It is shown that planetary-wave Eliassen-Palm fluxes were generally consistent with the extratropical QBO. These fluxes were more (less) convergent in the midlatitude (subtropical) upper stratosphere in the 40-mb east (= easterly) phase category relative to the west category.

Dunkerton, Timothy J.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Interdecadal Variations in the Alaska Gyre

Climatic dynamic topography variations in the Alaska gyre during the period 1968-1990 are described with an objective analysis of more than 12000 STD and XBT stations, and COADS wind stress data Interannual the dynamic height and SST variations were correlated and were consistent with recently described large-scale climatic shifts in the North Pacific. The gyre was centered more to the east, circulation appeared stronger, and SST was lower during the early to mid-1970s than during the 1980s. The Aleutian low (NP and PNA indices) intensified during the interim, but the response did not appear as a gyre spinup. Instead, the associated wind stress anomalies forced a slowly varying dynamic height anomaly across the eastern and northern part of the gyre through Ekman convergence, which had the effect of displacing the gyre's low somewhat to the WSW in the 1980s. The wind curl spectrum was white, and the slow oceanic response was modeled as stochastic-forced climate variability with a simple first-order Markov autoregression process. Forcing was assumed to be Ekman pumping of the pycnocline, and the damping coefficient was estimated from the data to be approx. 1 yr. A hindcast with observed winds gave estimated dynamic height patterns similar to those observed, with a canonical correlation of 0.79 at 99% confidence. This response was weak in the western half of the gyre, where slow baroclinic variability may have been influenced by long Rossby wave propagation. A simple autoregression simulation using artificial white noise forcing shows the evolution of decadal variations similar in nature to those observed. This result, along with the low frequency correlation between dynamic height and SST, suggests that the upper-ocean climatic variability in this region is primarily wind forced.

Lagerloef, Gary S.E.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Computational aspects of sensitivity calculations in transient structural analysis

A key step in the application of formal automated design techniques to structures under transient loading is the calculation of sensitivities of response quantities to the design parameters. This paper considers response quantities to the design parameters. This paper considers structures with general forms of damping acted on by general transient loading and addresses issues of computational errors and computational efficiency. The equations of motion are reduced using the traditional basis of vibration modes and then integrated using a highly accurate, explicit integration technique. A critical point constraint formulation is used to place constraints on the magnitude of each response quantity as a function of time. Three different techniques for calculating sensitivities of the critical point constraints are presented. The first two are based on the straightforward application of the forward and central difference operators, respectively. The third is based on explicit differentiation of the equations of motion. Condition errors, finite difference truncation errors, and modal convergence errors for the three techniques are compared by applying them to a simple five-span-beam problem. Sensitivity results are presented for two different transient loading conditions and for both damped and undamped cases.

Greene, William H.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Superconvergence of Online Optimization for Model Predictive Control

We develop a one-Newton-step-per-horizon, online, lag-L, model predictive control (MPC) algorithm for solving discrete-time, equality-constrained, nonlinear dynamic programs. Based on recent sensitivity analysis results for the target problems class, we prove that the approach exhibits a behavior that we call superconvergence; that is, the tracking error with respect to the full horizon solution is not only stable for successive horizon shifts, but also decreases with increasing shift order to a minimum value that decays exponentially in the length of the receding horizon. The key analytical step is the decomposition of the one-step error recursion of our algorithm into algorithmic error and perturbation error. We show that the perturbation error decays exponentially with the lag between two consecutive receding horizons, while the algorithmic error, determined by Newton’s method, achieves quadratic convergence instead. Overall this approach induces our local exponential convergence result in terms of the receding horizon length for suitable values of L. In conclusion, numerical experiments validate our theoretical findings.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗